


Onrsa

by Ariejul



Series: Alone in the Fallout [18]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Cheating, Complicated Relationships, F/M, Heartbreak, Loneliness, Romantic Angst, Romantic Friendship, Settling, Unhealthy Relationships, Wanting someone you can't have
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-01 23:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11497155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariejul/pseuds/Ariejul
Summary: Onrsa: to love for the last time - a bittersweet feeling of knowing that a love won't last.Julia and Bobby together, or at least something like it.Pre-war.An interlude of sorts.





	Onrsa

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys. 
> 
> Two stories in one day. I'm on a roll. 
> 
> This bit has been knocking around in my head for a very long time. It wasn't originally part of this series, but I decided I wanted it to be. 
> 
> This is completely pre-war, a glimpse into Julia's life before it all fell apart. Or at least before the Bombs dropped. 
> 
> Hope you like it.
> 
> Please comment/kudos if you do. :)

**Pre-War, Approximately 2072**

\---

“Jules,” he says, standing in the doorway.

She glances up from the paper, a bright smile breaking her face. “Bobby! I haven’t seen you in ages. What brings you here?” She wraps him up in a hug a heartbeat later.

After pulling away, he looks at the ceiling and rubs the back of his neck. “Jeez, can I not just want to come see you?”

She playfully punches his arm before pulling him further in the house. “I’m teasing you.” Absently, she pours him a cup of coffee, no cream extra sugar, and passes it to him.

Bobby murmurs a soft thanks before staring into the cup pensively. “Are you doing okay, Jules?”

Frowning at the sudden question, she studies him for a moment. “Of course I am, silly. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Undeterred, he continues. “Nate’s deployment isn’t getting to you? You haven’t been together very long; I’d never wanna leave my girl all alone like that, especially after I damn near forced her to move outta the city.” There’s a note of heavy disapproval in his voice.

Julia sighs, staring into her own cup. “Nate is doing something important. I knew what I was getting into.”

“How diplomatic of you,” he replies dryly.

“Bobby,” she says more firmly. “I’m fine. Please don’t worry about me.”

He nods, avoiding her gaze. “And what if he doesn’t come back?”

A slap cracks the relative calm. “Don’t you _dare_ say something like that. Nate will come back. He _will_.”

“But what if he doesn’t?” Bobby asks again, cheek red from her strike.

“I… can’t think about that.” Her voice is soft, wavering slightly at the edges. She picks up the paper, hiding her face behind it. “You should go.”

He reaches across the counter and pulls it down. Tears are slipping down her face silently, even as she tries to turn away. “Is that what you want?”

Her eyes hesitantly meet his, crystal bright from tears. “What I want isn’t important.”

“Why would you say that?” he asks, brows furrowed in confusion.

Julia tosses the paper aside, another headline about the ongoing war emblazoned across its front in dark font. “Because it’s the truth. Everything I want is nothing more than childish fantasy. Besides,” she gives him a teary smile that is anything but happy, “Nate knows what’s best for us.”

Bobby shoots her a disgusted look. “That’s bullshit, Julia.”

“I have to put my faith in him. He’s my husband.” Her hands clench into fists on the counter.

He sighs. “What _do_ you want?”

She studies him through her lashes. “Why does it matter? I can’t go back. This is the life I chose.”

“Why won’t you answer any of my damn questions?!” he snaps, slapping the counter hard enough his cup shakes slightly. “It isn’t rocket science. I just want to know what you want.”

Swallowing heavily, she stares at the counter top – _at his beautiful hands_ – and traces patterns with a perfectly manicured nail. “I want my old apartment in the city. My old friends. I want… I just want you to –” She catches herself, cheeks pink.

“Want me to what, Jules?” he asks, stepping around the counter to stand beside her.

“It doesn’t matter,” she murmurs, closing her eyes. “It’s never been about what _I_ want. Not really.”

Bobby sighs, stepping away under the pretense of putting his cup in the sink. He stands there, staring into the basin. After a time, he glances toward her back. “I wish I’d never introduced you to my brother.”

“I wish you hadn’t either,” she whispers back, fingers curling knuckle-white around her mug.

Head bowed, he grips the counter. “You don’t have to stay.”

Julia doesn’t look at him, tears slipping from her cheek and dripping into her now cold coffee. “Bobby, please. Just respect my choice.”

“Do you even love him?”

She walks up behind him, wrapping her arms hesitantly around him and pressing her forehead against his back. “Of course I do.”

He stiffens in her arms, shoulders hunched forward. He presses a hand over hers. “I’m sorry, Jules. I shouldn’t –”

She gently shushes him, pressing a kiss against his spine. “Please don’t hate me.”

A shiver runs through him. “I never could.”

Julia sighs softly against his shirt. “I’m glad.”

They stand there in the kitchen silently for a time, Julia breathing in the smell of him and trying not to cry. He plays with the ring on her left hand absently, sliding it up and down her finger but never completely off. He’s so warm it burns.

“Can I kiss you?”

She freezes in place, wetting her lips anxiously. “Bobby, I…” After a pregnant pause, she agrees.

Bobby’s embrace is gentle, his lips soft, as he touches her. His fingers tangle in her hair as she grips the front of his shirt. With gentle urging she opens her mouth, and the kiss deepens. He tastes of slightly too sweet coffee, and he’s surprisingly good with his tongue, all of Julia’s thoughts flitting away. When he lifts her onto the counter, her legs automatically curl around his waist and pull him in. Her skirt and petticoat slide up her thighs, and he jolts when his hands brush newly bared skin. He pulls away with color high on his cheekbones.

“Bobby?” she asks after a moment of composure. Even so, her hair is mussed and skirt riding high on her thighs.

Biting down on his knuckles, he turns away. He doesn’t say anything.

“Hey.” She drops from the counter and touches his arm, trying to catch a glimpse of his face. “Talk to me.”

He pulls away like her touch burns. “Jules… I can’t. I…”

He just looks so lost, and Julia’s lips ache so sweetly. “It’s okay, Bobby.”

“No! It’s not okay!” he shouts, hands curling into fists. “I shouldn’t want you. You’re Nate’s wife.”

She reaches out, touching his back. “Is it only because I’m Nate’s wife?”

He doesn’t flinch away from her touch. “No. I always…” he trails off with a grimace.

Julia sighs softly, leaning against him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He sniffs roughly, but is otherwise still. “’M younger than you. Didn’t think you’d go for it.”

“Oh, Bobby,” she murmurs, wrapping her arms around him. “I thought you didn’t. It’s why I…”

“It doesn’t matter, like you said.” He shifts away from her, turning around and smiling sadly. “Besides, I set you both up, didn’t I?”

“I…” she swallows. “Is it… would it be selfish of me… to ask you to stay?”

He stares at her in alarm. “Jules, you can’t ask me to do that. If I stay with you, I don’t know what I’d do.”

Taking his hand, Julia gazes up at him. “I’m sorry, but I… want you to stay. More than anything. It’s not right, but I want it.”

Bobby reaches out and takes her face in his hands. “Jules,” he pauses, takes a breath, “I… want that, too. You know that, right?”

She blushes, placing her hands over his, and nods.

He leans forward to kiss her, and Julia lets him.


End file.
